With the dwindling numbers of foreign tourist arrivals in December 2011 and January 2012, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has been relatively quiet the past few weeks.

Add to this the false belief that countries have lifted their travel advisories, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand has crawled back out of the woodwork to make some stupid forecasts for 2012.

Thai Beach

This time it is the Tourism Authority of Thailand Deputy Governor for Asia and South-Pacific Markets Sansern Ngaorangsi making the wild ass guess predictions for the benefit of the Official Thai Government online news source – National News Bureau of Thailand Public Relations Department – TAT to attract 13.4 million visitors from Asia and South Pacific Region.

BANGKOK, 5 January 2012 (NNT) – The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has welcomed the news that more and more countries are cancelling travel advisories against Thailand while pointing out that the warning that remains in some countries is at a low level and is only contained in markets with less significance.

Not true Tourism Authority of Thailand.  This is based on the Thai Foreign Minister misinterpreting information on the American Embassy web site.  The EMERGENCY MESSAGE is still valid and HAS NOT BEEN REVOKED.  The Foreign Minister incorrectly has told Thailand that the Worldwide Caution posted on 24 January, which is very generic, has superseded the 13 January terrorist travel advisory.  Apples and Oranges comparison that the Thai Foreign Minister is trying to manipulate into something totally false.  I do hope that the American Ambassador in Thailand, Kristie Kenney, slams the Thai Foreign Minister

TAT Deputy Governor for Asia and South-Pacific Markets Sansern Ngaorangsi stated that the TAT aims to boost the number of tourists from the Asia and South Pacific markets up to 13.5 million this year, which will generate revenue of THB400 billion. It is speculated that tourists from India and Australia will rise to more than one million. Their numbers were previously 900,000 and 800,000, respectively. The number of tourists from China, Japan and South Korea should remain over 1 million as usual. Meanwhile, the TAT will also be focusing on new potential markets such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

Thai Government Officials, especially the Tourism Authority of Thailand, love to throw out numbers based on absolutely nothing because they know that no news reporter, especially one from a Thai government news site, would dare ask a question or dare ask Mr. Big Shot to verify or justify the wild ass guess prediction.

The TAT has plans to increase the average expense per day of tourists from the Asian market from THB4,500 baht each to THB5,000 to create more income for the country. The main focus will fall on four quality tourist groups, namely golf enthusiasts, honeymooners, medical tourists and ecotourists.

Number 1 – the Tourism Authority of Thailand has absolutely no idea how much money a foreign or domestic tourist spends daily.  Supposedly, TAT conducts surveys of 2% of tourists to conduct this analysis.  I have never seen anyone from TAT anywhere in Thailand since 1973 doing anything.

Number 2 – There is NO focus on those 4 groups by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.  Show me an advertisement for any of those niche markets.  Show me anything on the main tourismthailand.org web site that promotes specific events for these big bucks tourists.  Show me a video on YouTube.  Show me a promotion on Facebook.  None exist.

Number 3 – If the Tourism Authority of Thailand is trying to attract eco-tourists, they need to read this article from today’s Bangkok Post – Eco-tourism still brown in Thailand and respond to this quote: “Tourism operators and local tourists pay little attention to eco-tourism.”

Mr. Sansern stated that this year’s marketing budget for the Asia and South Pacific region is THB400 million. However, complementary budget is expected to be extended by the government to stimulate tourism in order to meet its THB2-trillion goal for the tourism sector in 2015.

The answer to all of the issues put forth by the Tourism Authority of Thailand – throw more money at it.

Mr. Sansern added that the ongoing Royal Flora 2011 is helping boost tourism as well. So far, the event has welcomed 1.4 million visitors, 80% of whom are Thais. Most foreign tourists attending the Royal Flora 2011 come from Asian countries which have direct flights to Chiang Mai, such as South Korea.

I seriously doubt that 1.4 million folks went to Chiang Mai and there is no way for the Tourism Authority of Thailand to even get a rough estimate.  The 80% number may be relatively close to reality since the Tourism Authority of Thailand does not know how to market to foreigners.

Just more of the same old bullshit from the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Tourism Authority Of Thailand Making More Unsubstantiated Predictions is a post from: Khon Kaen

This all started on 30 January 2012, with an article from Phuketwan, US Terror Alert Ending With A Whimper, a very deceiving headline that implied that the US emergency travel advisory for Thailand had been revoked.  They went so far as to say: “The US Embassy in Thailand has now quietly removed the terrorist warning to tourists in Bangkok from the front page of its online site . . . and perhaps it’s better that the misguided alert went with a whimper rather than a bang.”

Removed from the front page – yes – but all that was on the front page originally was a link to the Thailand emergency warning – which is still in effect.  The Phuketwan article is more an opinion piece and a place for the author to air his views on the country-specific travel alert system.

Thunderbirds

Then, on 2 February 2012, The Nation came up with an article, 13 nations urged to withdraw their travel advisory, which had this to say about the Thailand travel advisories:

Of the 21 countries that issued travel advisories, nine – namely the US, China, Germany, France, Israel, Brazil, Norway, Netherlands and Denmark – have either withdrawn or eased their warnings.

Now, this came as a huge surprise to me as I had not received any email messages from the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok that said that the travel advisory had been revoked or lessened.  Also surprising, is that if this were true, where is the HUGE HEADLINE proclaiming it.  With all the bitching and moaning that has gone on since it was issued on 13 January, one would think that this would be a major story at The Nation and/or The Bangkok Post.

This was followed up by another article in The Nation on 3 February, Withdraw travel warning, that was almost a word-for-word copy of the 2 February article.

Also on 3 February, the official Thai News Agency for the Thai Government, National News Bureau of Thailand, Public Relations Department, ran this article – Foreign Affairs Ministry: U.S. lifts terror alert in Thailand which stated:

BANGKOK, 3 February 2012 (NNT) – The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported that the United States revoked the terrorism alert in Thailand. Nine countries still warn their citizens of possible terrorist attacks.

This was also broadcast by the Thaivisa forum web site

I kept going back to the American Embassy web site and checked out the page with ALL the warnings – Emergency Messages and Announcements, and I see no change.  I still see the Emergency Message dated 13 January.  I don’t see anywhere listing a revocation or a downgrade of the alert.

The Nation continued with its daily message, Nine nations urged to lift travel – I guess they forgot how to spell alert or advisory – but this still falsely shows that the USA has removed its alert:

Britain, Australia, Austria, Taiwan, South Korea, Italy, Japan, Romania and Canada are still warning their citizens to be careful when visiting Thailand.

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office are doing more than telling Brits to “be careful”.

The Phuket Gazette joined the party on 4 February with Phuket update: US lifts terror alert:

PHUKET: Good news for the Phuket tourism industry has come with the US warning of a possible terrorist threat in Bangkok having been removed from its website, where it had been on the main page.

It has NOT been removed from its website but it has been taken off of the front page – where it was only a summary with a link to the article in the first place.

The warning was replaced with a more general alert for East Asia. The new warning does not name any specific countries or places, but 14 other countries still have either travel advisories or alerts for Thailand.

Sorry, I don’t see this.  I do see a “World Wide Caution” issued on 24 January, but nothing else has changed.

OK, I just went to the horse’s mouth – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Web Site and here is the LATEST from the MFA – – Developments regarding travel advisories and alerts issued for Thailand (as of 31 January 2012):

On 31 January 2012, Mr. Thani Thongphakdi, Director-General of the Department of Information and Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, gave an interview to the media on developments regarding travel advisories and alerts issued by some countries about the possible terrorist threat in Bangkok. Gist as follows:

1. Pursuant to the alert issued by the United States Embassy in Bangkok warning its nationals of a possible terrorist threat, at present the U.S. Embassy has removed the said warning from the main page of its website. On 24 January 2012, the United States has instead issued a worldwide caution on security threats and terrorist activities for various regions of the world. For East Asia, a general alert was issued without specifying any particular country including Thailand. This is considered a positive development.

2. As for other countries, over the past 2-3 days, three countries, namely, Austria, Norway and Brazil, have also revised their travel advisories and alerts for Thailand, removing reference to the said issue.  At present, there remain 14 countries which still retain their travel advisories and alerts on this matter. It should be noted, however, that these countries have not advised their nationals to avoid travelling to Bangkok or Thailand, but only provided information about the matter to their nationals.

3. In this connection, the Foreign Minister has directed the Ministry to provide the latest information on the current situation to countries which have retained their travel advisories and alerts for Thailand in order for them to consider revising their advisories and alerts. This matter has already been raised with some countries. In addition, the Foreign Minister and the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs will also raise this issue with Ambassadors and/or Representatives of the European Union (E.U.) Member States in Thailand during their upcoming meeting on 2 February 2012.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is mixing apples and oranges.  The Worldwide Caution issued on 24 January is just that – a worldwide caution.  The EMERGENCY MESSAGE for Bangkok, issued on 13 January, is still in effect. One does not cancel or improve the other.  The Worldwide Caution DID NOT replace the EMERGENCY MESSAGE.

More misinformation from the almost English online news media in Thailand.

Thailand English News Media Ganging Up On American Embassy? is a post from: Khon Kaen

Incoming search terms:

• foreign affairs ministry: u s lifts terror alert in thailand
• US lifts terror alert in Thailand Bangkok Post

One of the many sites that I enjoy reading is Not The Nation for their satire on Thailand.

However, today, I noticed that one of the Not the Nation stories about beer gardens contained a photo I took In Khon Kaen.

Khon Kaen Beer Garden

Above is the photo that was stolen by Not The Nation from this post – Khon Kaen Seven Dangerous Days Campaign Sending Mixed Signals.

Not The Nation posted it in this article – Khon Kaen Seven Dangerous Days Campaign Sending Mixed Signals.

Here are screen shots taken today, 4 February 2012:

Here are the two photos side by side – mine on the left and the stolen photo from Not The Nation on the right:

You can see that they are identical.  You can also see the date of the blog posts that mine was made (30 December 2011) over one month prior to Not The Nation.  And, I have the original.

So, now what do I do?  I could try to contact the folks at Not the Nation – but they have no contact info on thier web site.  I did a Whois search and found out that they registered their domain via domainsbyproxy.com which hides everything and when I looked at their web host, godaddy.com, everything is hidden there also.

So, about all I can do is post this and maybe they will see it and take any or all of the following actions:

• Pay me for the photo
• Remove the photo
• Provide a link and credit for the photo
• Issue an apology

I will give this a little time and do some more DMCA research and see what all of my options are.  I know I can contact GoDaddy, but I would rather settle this with the folks at Not the Nation.

Oh, Not the Nation – the photo was shot in Khon Kaen, Thailand, at the park across the street from CentralPlaza – not Bangkok.

Not The Nation Stole My Photo is a post from: Khon Kaen

I found out about the 40th National Games of Thailand, being held in Khon Kaen from 3-13 March 2012, from an email from Tom at Isaan-live – not from the Tourism Authority of Thailand. Tom got the information from a tweet with a link to TAN news.

Now, both Tom and I live in Khon Kaen and neither of us had heard about this sporting event.  Thanks Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Thailand National Games

Tom got some additional information from a bunch of signs around Bueng Kaen Nakorn, but they are all in Thai and he blogged about it -  Is it Racism or just Ignorance in Thailand.   It appears that us Farangs aren’t invited and the Tourism Authority of Thailand doesn’t care.

I had never heard of the Thai National Games and Google wasn’t much of a help either.  Aside from a crappy Wikipedia page, there is very little information about the Thai National Games.

So, I wanted to see what the Tourism Authority of Thailand had put out in previous years by googling – “national games” thailand site:.tourismthailand.org – this way I would only search at the main Tourism Authority of Thailand web site.

Here are the results:

 No results found for “national games” thailand site:.tourismthailand.org.

So, not only are all the signs in Khon Kaen for the 40th National Games in the Thai language, it appears that the Tourism Authority of Thailand has never, ever posted anything online about them.

I did find an article on the 39th Thai National Games in the Pattaya Times, The 39th Chonburi Games Comes To An End, but it calls the games the “Chonburi Games” and states that the Khon Kaen 40th National Games (or maybe known as the Khon Kaen Games or, if the Tourism Authority of Thailand does promote it, will perhaps call it the Miracle National Games) will be held in November – wrong.

The National Games in Chonburi attracted 13,000 athletes and they participated in 39 sporting events.  Khon Kaen will have 32 events but I have no idea what they are, which of two venues (the Khon Kaen Administration Stadium and the Khon Kaen University Stadium) they will be played at, and what the dates and times of the competitions are.

With that many athletes, and maybe family and friends, that is a lot of people and a lot of revenue for Khon Kaen.  But, it could be more if the Tourism Authority of Thailand (main office in Bangkok) and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (Khon Kaen Office) would promote it on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and on the main Tourism Authority of Thailand web site – thailandtourism.org.

Promoting it in the English language would also get foreigners from many countries to also go to Khon Kaen to watch the athletes.

But, the Tourism Authority of Thailand chooses to take food out of the mouths of those in Isaan by NOT promoting events that locals and foreigners would both enjoy seeing.  The Tourism Authority of Thailand would prefer to promote the World’s Biggest Outdoor Water Fight (Songkran) and the Miss Tiffany Transvestite Beauty Contest.

Another case of the Tourism Authority of Thailand not knowing what the are doing.

40th National Games In Khon Kaen But Tourism Authority Of Thailand Not Promoting is a post from: Khon Kaen

The Official Thai News Source, the National News Bureau of Thailand, Public Relations Department, is reporting that the Foreign Minister of Thailand claims that the American Embassy in Bangkok has lifted its Emergency Travel Advisory.

Unless the American Embassy forgot to update their website, forgot to take down the Emergency Message, didn’t send out email alerts, and Ambassador Kristie Kenney didn’t tweet the update, I don’t believe this Thai report for a second.

PM Yingluck Shinawatra and Ambassador Kristie Kenney

This was also hinted at in Thai media, The Nation today, Nine nations urged to lift travel.

Apparently, Thai Government Officials think that just because there is no longer a link from the front page of the American Embassy web site, that the advisory has been cancelled.  The Emergency Message is still where it was on January 13th 2012.

I have sent out a tweet to Ambassador Kristie Kenny, but I don’t know if she will reply or not since it is an unofficial medium.

Until I see something official at the American Embassy web site, I will not believe what the Thai Government has put out.

This smacks of one Thai Government Agency helping out another to save the image of Thailand and help tourism.  I can’t believe that the American Embassy would revoke the travel advisory without sending out official information to its citizens no matter what day it is or no matter what time it is.

So, for now, I will consider the Thai news report to be completely erroneous.

Thai Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Lies is a post from: Khon Kaen